{"id":242995,"date":"2025-09-21T03:41:16","date_gmt":"2025-09-21T03:41:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/242995\/"},"modified":"2025-09-21T03:41:16","modified_gmt":"2025-09-21T03:41:16","slug":"6-year-old-mass-girl-raises-1000-for-harvard-axolotl-lab","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/242995\/","title":{"rendered":"6-year-old Mass. girl raises $1,000 for Harvard axolotl lab"},"content":{"rendered":"

Like many kids, Marianne first learned about axolotls at school. There was lots of talk on the kindergarten playground about how the salamanders are \u201cso cute,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

As axolotls grow in popularity<\/a>, more kids \u2014 and by extension, their parents \u2014 are learning about the animals\u2019 remarkable ability to re-grow limbs and organs lost to injury. One day, biological secrets gleaned from axolotl research could help military veteran and diabetes amputees, scientists say. <\/p>\n

\"AnAn axolotl from the Harvard Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology lab was placed in a special tank to meet visitors including 6-year-old Marianne Cullen on Monday, Sept. 15.Veasey Conway\/Harvard University<\/p>\n

Harvard is one of the few places in the world that studies axolotl regeneration, and, although Marianne had no idea, her donation arrived after the lab had seen five federal grants terminated amid Trump administration cuts to the NIH<\/a> and National Science Foundation, said director Jessica Whited.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt came at a particularly poignant time,\u201d Whited said Monday in her lab, where Marianne was getting to explore rows of equipment and even meet some axolotls.<\/p>\n

The tour was the culmination of a summer that Marianne dedicated to learning more about axolotls and how scientists are studying the endangered salamanders to unlock the key to human limb regeneration<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey can do things humans can\u2019t do, and I hope that one day we can save the axolotls,\u201d said Marianne, who wants to be <\/b>a scientist or a NICU doctor when she grows up.<\/p>\n

\"AtAt the Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, Marianne Cullen, 6, gets to wear a cape with an axolotl on it as lab director Jessica Whited (left) looks on.Suzanne Kreiter\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

Marianne invited about 30 family members and friends to a PowerPoint party in Springfield this summer where she raised the money she donated to Harvard. People also donated to a Venmo fund-raiser on Facebook, and Marianne contributed $80 of her own piggybank money, said her mother, Kat Demetrion.<\/p>\n

Marianne says there\u2019s another reason behind her fascination with axolotls. It has to do with her sister, Emmaline, who\u2019s just a year old.<\/p>\n

Doctors at Boston Children\u2019s Hospital have treated Emmaline for immune and allergy response problems, and Marianne wonders if there could be a connection between axolotl regeneration and medical therapies for babies who suffer from autoimmune diseases. <\/b><\/p>\n

\u201cEmmaline was having scans of her organs, there were some heart enlargement issues, and Marianne made the connection that maybe axolotl research like this would be able to help,\u201d Demetrion, 41, said.<\/p>\n

Unfortunately, Marianne says she doesn\u2019t get to see her baby sister that much while she gets treatment at Boston Children\u2019s and several other hospitals.<\/p>\n

\u201cI am so proud of Marianne,\u201d her mom said. \u201cRaising money for axolotls has helped her to process her scared and anxious feelings about her sister\u2019s health.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"AtAt the Harvard Department of Stem Cell and Regenerative Biology, 6-year-old Marianne Cullen (in lab coat) examines axolotls in the lab of Jessica Whited, who is on the far right. Behind her is her father, Robert Cullen, baby sister Emmaline Cullen, and mother Kat Demetrion.Suzanne Kreiter\/Globe Staff<\/p>\n

Demetrion, who works as a special education teacher at her daughter\u2019s school in Springfield, said she saw firsthand when <\/b>the axolotl craze took hold among young students this past academic year. Her colleagues, in turn, started incorporating the animals into classroom lessons.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe are learning about axolotls from children,\u201d Demetrion said, with a laugh, as Marianne examined one of the pink creatures in its tank at the lab.<\/p>\n

Whited said that human babies injured during birth who need a shoulder surgery called a brachial plexus repair could benefit from scientific breakthroughs gained from axolotl limb regeneration research.<\/p>\n

While the details are still being worked out, it\u2019s possible Marianne\u2019s donation could go directly to such a project at Harvard, linking axolotl findings to infant medical treatment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat would be a fitting use of the money,\u201d Whited said.<\/p>\n

At Harvard on Monday, Marianne and her family were lunch guests of Whited and a team of researchers at the Annenberg dining hall. Like most any first-grader, Marianne enjoyed chicken strips and chocolate milk. But while in the lab, she also managed to hold her own in conversations with the scientists.<\/p>\n

Marianne looked closely at two axolotls in a small tank, one pink and one dark grey. She studied their bellies, looking for a round spot indicating the animal\u2019s sex. But since it was daytime, Marianne said, the mostly nocturnal animals <\/b>appeared to be <\/b>resting.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut at nighttime they like to party,\u201d she said, eliciting laughs from all the adults around her.<\/p>\n

Claire Thornton can be reached at claire.thornton@globe.com<\/a>. Follow Claire on X @claire_thornto<\/a>.<\/p>\n